I'm going to copy a post I made in another thread, seeing as how it probably fits better here and has a better chance of being seen:

I've said this before (although I don't think anyone ever read the post), but we need to break down General Discussion into several different areas of discussion (Video Games, Off Topic, etc.). I'm well aware we're a Pokemon site (and a competitive battling one at that), but everything being about Pokemon with a minuscule amount of other discussion topics makes for a dull forum. People are going to come to the site and see that we have little more than competitive discussion (and a practically dead forum), and be turned off from the site. Mind you, competitive discussion can be "fun", for lack of a better word, but you don't eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, right? Dividing GD as I said could give a second chance to what is essentially a bland forum and heighten the amount of discussion that takes place on the site, something we desperately, desperately need. And I don't mean making sub-sections. I'm talking completely getting rid of "General Discussion" and placing several more specific sections in its place. Just having a chat box is not going to cut it for most people, and I hope I'm not the only one who realizes this.

Have you ever noticed how it's mostly either the very new members or regulars that participate in the site ("participating" including making posts on the forum and chatbox alike)? About a good 85-90% of the site's members aren't active, and I can't help but think that evolving (no pun intended) this site to more than a chatbox could greatly change that.

Maybe we aren't even eligible for a "second chance" yet; maybe we haven't even screwed up our hypothetical first one, considering we're still such a tiny site, but whatever it is that's keeping people from sticking around, it needs to change ,and soon.